A couple years ago, my official GamePad battery charger broke. So my dad bought a third-party one...which broke in a matter of months. So he bought a third-party USB charger, and I've had to live with that ever since.
As I use my Wii U GamePad more and more, the total fully-charged battery life has decreased. When I got my Wii U, the GamePad lasted a total of about 3-4 hours. That battery life has decreased a whole lot since then, and now the total battery life is just over 10 minutes...fully charged. No joke! It's really frustrating, since it has to be plugged in all the time. But I eventually learned to live with it.
The worst of it all happened a couple of days ago. My current USB charger stopped functioning entirely. My GamePad has not charged at all since. I tried to cut back on our usage of the GamePad, so we could at least save its power for emergencies. But just today, my brother left the Wii U on, with the GamePad on as well, and unsurprisingly, it died. Now the GamePad has a dead battery (that would only last 10 minutes if it was charged, anyway), and I have absolutely no way to charge it. My Wii U GamePad is officially dead.
To continue using my Wii U GamePad, I have to pay $20 for a new 3-hour battery, and another $20 for yet another charger (I will get an official one this time). I probably won't have the money until I get a job in a couple months. That means my GamePad is unusable for probably about 6 months. I won't possibly survive without my GamePad for that long. Man, life can sure get really frustrating.